A Spooky Situation

Sunday 8-30-15 (Home in Modesto)

Scripture reading:  Eze. 8-11    Rev 4

S=Scripture O=Observation A=Application P=Prayer  SOAP for the soul.

S.  Ezek 8:7-8  I could see an opening in the wall.  He said to me, "Now, son of man, dig into the wall." So I dug into the wall and uncovered a door to a hidden room.

Vs 12  Then the LORD said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the leaders of Israel are doing with their idols in dark rooms? They are saying, 'The LORD doesn't see us;   NLT

O.  Ezekiel is among the captives in Babylon, but in a vision he is lifted by his hair by a flaming man-like creature and carried to Jerusalem.  Here he finds a secret room where many of the Israelite leaders, who, judging by the detailed description, had been literally worshipping  Satan. 

A.  Evil tries to hide in dark, secret places.  The enemy of men’s souls tries to convince them that God cannot see them there. 

I will never forget my first encounter with the powers of Satan in Argentina.  I was a newcomer.  Late one night I was called upon to accompany a fellow missionary to a home that was in distress.  We drove to a dingy dark part of the crowded city.  The house was enclosed in a high fence.  We could hear screams from inside.  We knocked and the front door opened directly into a room with a man in bed and perhaps a dozen people.  The room was filled with smoke since many of them were smoking.  We were told that the man in the bed, who was screaming in a strange unusual tone, was sick and needed our prayers.  We laid hands on him and began to pray.  Realizing that this was a case of demon possession, we cast out the demons in the name of Jesus.  Instantly the man relaxed and went silent.  But in that same instant... that exact voice began to scream in another room.  Someone told us that his wife was sick in another room and took us to that room where she was in bed.  The exact same guttural voice was now screaming from her.  We laid hands on her and cast the demon out in the name of Jesus.  Instantly she relaxed and went silent... but back in the other room the man in the bed began screaming  again with the exact same voice.  After going back and forth to these two rooms with the same results, we realized that we needed to break up... one of us in each room, simultaneously casting out the demons in the name of Jesus.  Instantly both went silent and were delivered from that evil spirit and showed evidence of being healed. 

This was my first such contact with the evil forces of Satan, who brings disaster into lives that have dedicated themselves to his evil forces.  But it was not the last.

P.  Lord Jesus, as You well know, I never sought after situations like this, but witnessed again and again the authority given to us in Your name to silence the unseen enemy and cause him to flee.   I am not one to seek out spooky situations.  I would rather preach Your love and Your power to give a new beginning to nice clean sinners, like me.  But I know that You came to this earth to break the chains of those who have been helplessly imprisoned by the evil one.  Thank You for placing in our hands the authority of Your Name which is powerful enough to make evil spirits release their grip on men and women and set them free.  Amen.

Ralph

We used to sing an old song in church:  

Only a sinner saved by grace

Only a sinner saved by grace

This is the story,

to God be the glory.

I’m only a sinner saved by grace.

Praise God!  That’s me!